Blue Highways Revisited: Photographer Ed Ailor captures the places and people off the beaten track

The book "Blue Highways Revisited" retraces the path of the original best-selling book.

Edgar Ailor IIIIniversity of Missouri Press

The call of the open road has long beckoned Americans … and in 1978, William Least Heat-Moon answered the call and embarked on a drive around the country, taking the roads less travelled. Starting in Columbia, he followed a circular route that totaled nearly 14,000 miles. The result was Blue Highways, a New York Times Bestselling book.

Thirty years later, photographer Ed Ailor III and his son, Edgar Ailor the IV, retraced that path, photographing the sights and people described in the original Blue Highways book. Their photos have been compiled into Blue Highways Revisited, a book released earlier this year by the University of Missouri Press.

KBIA’s Rehman Tungekar spoke with Ailor on the program “Intersection” earlier this week about Blue Highways Revisited. The new book retraces the same path taken by William Least Heat Moon in the original Blue Highways more than 30 years ago.

This interview aired on KBIA's Intersection, where you can hear the full interview: http://intersectkbia.weebly.com/

It also ran in excerpted form on KBIA's arts and culture program "Off the Clock." The program also featured music from local bluegrass band Ironweed: http://www.ironweedbluegrassband.com/